An Interesting Afternoon for a Sickly Captain
by FreelanceDreamer
Summary: A small[ish] story following the events of the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book #162. In which Ukitake has an OFC girlfriend who greatly enjoys teasing him mercilessly about having his clothing cut off, and some additional feel-good fluff.


**A.N.** I started this little slice of life one-shot at the end of November, and have only just got around to finishing it. For those of you who don't know (but could possibly ascertain from looking at the stories I've written), Ukitake is my favourite character but he had no canon relationship, so I have created one for him. For anyone who recently followed my Advent Challenge some of what's written here will not match up to some of the things I wrote there…I mean, what are you gonna do. This will likely be my last story posted of 2015, so have a Happy New Year! Enjoy.

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Walking though the entrance to Ugendō, Kagomei Natsuya couldn't help but laugh as she caught a glimpse of the bonsai in the garden. Despite having been told on numerous occasions by various people that bonsai trimming was not a talent of his, Jūshirō persevered in his hobby. He'd been ill for the better part of the past month, the weather was changing and winter was setting in. This time of the year always took its toll on Jūshirō's health, but he'd been getting better in the last couple of days, as evidence by his afternoon in the garden.

Sliding the door closed behind her, Kagomei stopped short at the sight of the shredded shitagi, kosode, and haori that were haphazardly placed on the low table just outside of the kitchen. She pushed down the panic that spiked instinctively, she could feel his reiatsu, and she knew that he was unharmed, but she couldn't think of any reason as to why his uniform would be shredded, and despite the calm reiatsu she could sense, it was hard to imagine that he was uninjured given the state of his clothing.

"Jūshirō?" She called out as she slipped off her waraji and put them away.

When there was no immediate answer, she frowned and used his reiatsu to track him down in the moderately-sized estate. She'd just come upon the bath when the door to the hall opened. The sound had startled her, but anything she had planned to say died on his lips as she took in broad shoulders, well-muscled pectorals and abdomen, and deep green eyes that were currently wide with shock.

"Kagomei?" He spluttered after a moment, the look of shock on his face made her want to giggle, but she tried valiantly to save his pride.

"Wow," she murmured. "I didn't know you could blush all the way down here…" she let her sentence die off as she trailed her fingertips lightly down his chest and abdomen, coming to rest at the edge of the towel around his waist. She was teasing him horribly, and she watched his jaw drop and saw him stutter out a few syllables before regaining his composure.

"I'm going to go get dressed. If you set the water to boil, I'll join you for a cup of teat in a few minutes." His smile was gentle but knowing, before his disappeared into his bedroom.

Kagomei grinned; she hadn't meant to tease him so, but sometimes it was incredibly easy to get a rise out of him. That wasn't to say that he hadn't made her blush straight to her toes on more than a few occasions, but she definitely gave him a run for his money in terms of spontaneity.

Once she'd put the water on to boil she remembered the remnants of Jūshirō's uniform on the table. She'd seen his bare chest, and she knew that he was unharmed but the story was definitely something she wanted to her.

She'd just set the tea down on the low table on the back porch when Jūshirō appeared, properly dressed but his hair was still damp as it hung down the middle of his back. He accepted the cup of tea she offered once he'd settled down and they fell into a comfortable silence. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, his colour was looking a lot better than it had been, his energy seemed to return, and she hadn't heard him cough of wheeze at all in the past 24 hours. As much as she loved getting to spend as much time with him as she did when he was at Ugendō, it would be a relief to see him go back to work. He loved his job, and she loved that part of him.

"It's quite mild out today isn't it?" He mused.

She made a noise of agreement, setting her cup down on the table. It had been quite mild, they were both able to sit out on the porch and remain comfortable with the heaters running and an extra haori. The tea helped as well, the heat seeped into her hands and it warmed her from the inside out.

"So," she started after another moment of silence, "I couldn't help but notice your uniform on the table when I walked in…"

Her head snapped up when she heard him cough. Sensing her concern, he held out a hand to her before taking another sip of his tea and settling back into the position he'd been in before. Once she was sure that his cough was due to shock and not due to an exacerbation of his illness she was able to relax. She wasn't sure there would ever been a time where her heart didn't drop into her stomach at the sound of his coughing.

"I don't know if you'd believe me if I told you," he said after a moment, there were hints of amusement in his tone but the slight blush on his cheeks was what really intrigued her.

It took a little more coaxing before he finally agreed to tell her what had happened. He told her about finishing his bonsai trimming when Suì-Fēng and Kiyone showed up. He told her about being pinned to the tree with daggers and about having his clothing cut and pictures taken. By the end of the story she'd given up trying to stifle her laughter and had buried her face in her hands.

"I can't believe they did that!" She managed to get out in between bouts of laughter.

Jūshirō sniffed, doing his best to look indignant, "Well that's what happened."

She grinned mercilessly at him, "Kiyone? Really? The SWA must really be desperate for money if they managed to get her to take naked pictures of you."

"I was _not_ naked!" He implored, blushing right up to the tips of his ears.

"I wonder when they're going to start selling those cards…I'd love a copy."

"Kagomei!"

She threw her head back and laughed. It was such a ridiculous situation; Jūshirō was a good sport, the SWA probably could have convinced him to take some photos. Pinning him to a tree and cutting his clothing off was incredibly excessive.

"Are you pouting?" She asked him when she finally stopped laughing.

"No," he said too quickly.

She rolled her eyes before getting to her feet and moving around the table to sit down next to him. His face was still quite red, but she wasn't surprised. Jūshirō was often too serious for his own good. A hand on the side of his face got him to look at her, before she used the same hand to pull him down for a kiss.

Rangiku had told her once that a good kiss could get almost any man to forget his train of thought. In the past year that she'd been dating him, Kagomei had come to the conclusion that she agreed with Rangiku's premise.

When she would have pulled away, she found that Jūshirō's lips became more insistent against hers, and by the time he pulled away she found that she was the one who'd lost her train of thought.

"Now who's blushing?" He purred into her ear.

She pushed lightly against his chest so that she could look into his eyes. Whatever embarrassment he had been feeling was gone, replaced by a recognizable fire in his eyes. She took his hand in hers and pulled him to his feet, the two cups of tea forgotten on the table.

"What's this?" He asked, one eyebrow quirked to accentuate his question.

"I've suddenly developed a keen interest in taking your clothing off. However, unlike Suì-Fēng and Kiyone, I've discovered a few ways to rip your clothes off while leaving them intact."

The look on his face made her collapse into laughter all over again, and she brought the hand she held to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to one of his knuckles.

"I was kidding. You're sick and I'm hungry. I was thinking more along the lines soba noodles and an early night."

He smirked and used their intertwined hands to pull her close and press a kiss to her temple. She took the empty tea cup he handed to her before they made their way back into the estate. Even though it was still relatively mild out, the inside of the estate was warm in a way that seeped into her skin and gave her an unmistakable feeling of home.

As a rule, Jūshirō didn't cook if it could be avoided. He was a very talented man with many skills that had been honed and perfected by hundreds of years of experience, but his domestic talents were an acquired taste. Early into their relationship he'd decided to impress her with a homemade meal.

The smoke could be seen from the tenth division.

His appetite had been coming back in the last day or so. That was one of the more difficult aspects of seeing him ill – his level of hunger wasn't really affected but his appetite was. Jūshirō had an unusually deep appreciation for many things, and food was definitely one of them; too see his desire to eat become so diminished was hard. Which was why she'd decided to entice his senses with something a little more to his liking.

Dinner was uneventful. The conversation between them had been easy from the start, and they could talk about nearly anything. Kagomei found her mind drifting back to one humid summer evening when they'd taken a blanket out into the grounds of the estate and laid under the stars and talked for hours. He'd made up names and stories for fake constellations that he found in the sky, and she'd nearly cried of laughter at some of the stories he came up with. At one point he'd propped himself up onto his elbow to look down at her, trying to assert that his stories were true, and she'd found herself mesmerized by the joy on his face. He'd become her best friend a few months into their relationship, but she'd never been able to pinpoint exactly when she'd fallen in love with him.

That night was a very strong candidate, though.

Pulling herself out of her memories she gathered their bowls and took them back to the kitchen where her surprise lay hidden. When she returned to him carrying two small dessert plates, he'd looked at her in confusion before realizing what she was carrying.

"Ohagi?" The tone in his voice was more astonishment than it was inquiry. The look on his face told her all she needed to know about what he thought about her little surprise.

She laughed and placed the plate in front of him, settling back into her previous place at the table. "They were a little bit difficult to find, but it's still autumn so I was able to find some fresh ones."

She'd barely managed to finish her sentence before he'd popped one into his mouth, an act she couldn't condone but that made her laugh nonetheless. She opted for the politer option and took a small bite of hers, although she was much more interested in watching Jūshirō.

"You know you're going to have to ask Head Captain Yamamoto about getting a new captain's haori."

He frowned, "I'm going to have to come up with something to say to Genryūsai-sensei, I don't think he'd take too kindly to the real story."

Kagomei said nothing as she rose from the table and collected the haori from its place of rest, bringing it back to the table and sitting down before inspecting it. The tears were small and clean-cut from the sharp edges of the daggers that had pierced them.

"You know," she began, "I could probably fix this for you if you wanted."

He made a sound of disbelief. "You mean sew it? Do you remember that time you tried the zakka sewing?"

She glared at him, "I will admit that I'm not the best a sewing but I'm fairly certain I can use a needle to pull the edges together in a straight line. I'm not that incompetent."

He smiled softly, "If you want to it would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure I have a spare somewhere that I can use in the meantime. Captains don't generally have more than one haori but I've been captain for…. a while so I'm sure there's one around."

She grinned. Normally she would take any excuse to tease him about the age difference between them, however, she let that one go. When they'd first begun going on dates she had avoided making any jabs about the age gap because she hadn't wanted him to feel uncomfortable; she'd found him incredibly attractive and his personality was amazing and hadn't wanted to jeopardize the potential of their relationship. A short while into their relationship he'd absentmindedly referred to their 'courtship' while half-asleep and her laughter had caused him to jolt awake. When he realized what he'd said he'd corrected himself, but the damage had already been done. He'd been quite embarrassed but she'd found it charming – and had teased him ever since.

As planned, they both managed to getting everything they needed done early enough to be able to go to bed and spend some time together before sleep took over. He was feeling well enough for them to share a bed, something they both enjoyed. Jūshirō was a reader; he loved to read in bed, especially considering he rarely found other time during the day to do so. As much as Kagomei loved to read, she preferred not to read before bed because she wanted to be able to remember and fully comprehend what she was reading, so reading when tired was out of the question. While Jūshirō read, she took the time to reflect on the day, come to peace with everything that had happened, and calm down in preparation for restful sleep. A lot of the time she fell asleep before him, or was mostly asleep before he turned out the lamp and lay down properly, cuddling her closer.

They didn't live together, and she only spent a minority of nights at Ugendō - their various roles and responsibilities putting them into often opposite schedules. The time they did get to spend together was also good for the both of them, and they tried to make their time together light-hearted and enjoyable. It wasn't really a normal relationship; or one that was socially acceptable to all, but it worked for them, which was all that mattered.


End file.
